


Not with a bang, but with a sizzle

by katajainen



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Complete, Divorce, Drabble, Drabble Collection, Established Relationship, F/M, Relationship Issues, Wordcount: 100, empty nest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-09
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-04-30 19:31:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5177033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katajainen/pseuds/katajainen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of 100-word drabbles exploring how Harry and Ginny's marriage unravels over the course of Lily's first year at Hogwarts.</p><p>And oh, Draco Malfoy keeps popping up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. August

Watching Ginny and the children having Sunday breakfast, Harry started to wonder whether he was doing right by them. He sipped at his cooling tea, eyeing the Prophet headlines without really seeing them, and listened to the boys arguing over whose turn it was to take out the garbage.

Once, having a family just like this was all he thought he would ever want and need. But right now he felt like he had been deceived – or worse: that he had deceived the ones he most loved. That was the real stinger: that he loved each of them so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to experiment with the really tight drabble form: exactly 100 words (at least by MS Word wordcount). Also, this is a sort of prequel. That is to say I have a longer fic in the works - the one where we actually get to the Harry/Draco angle...


	2. September

Hogwarts Express chugged away from King's Cross with all three of his children for the first time. Watching the receding smoke, Harry caught a glimpse of something silver from the corner of his eye. He didn't have to turn around to know it was Malfoy, apparently seeing off that son of his.

Turning towards the exit with Ginny, he noticed the blond bastard was standing alone on the platform. Separated from his wife, wasn't he, and quite suddenly (and in a particularly ugly way, if the rumours held true). Horrified, Harry realized he pitied the son and envied the father.


	3. October evening

Somewhere in the bowels of the Ministry a clock struck 8 PM. It was like back before James was born: he'd lost all track of time – Ron must have left ages ago. But he wasn't the last; somebody called him from the door. No reason why he shouldn't have a pint after work, actually.

Harry stuffed the crime scene photographs back into the manila folder with the parchments and stowed the lot in his “ongoing” drawer. Shrugged into his coat as he locked and warded the daytime office. He could firecall Ginny from the pub to say he'd eat out.


	4. October morning

One pint had somehow transformed into several. And into a döner kebab at Adnan's All-Nighter a few blocks off Diagon Alley. Funny how little he knew his younger colleagues – or some of the older ones, for that matter. Not socializing much these days, was he? 

Turning into Grimmauld Place (“Don't drink and Disapparate”, or something like that), he saw that Number 12 was completely dark. Shaking the rainwater off his hair, he tiptoed to the extra bedroom and crashed onto the bed with his clothes on. No sense to wake Ginny up.

That morning, his tea tasted like something deceased.


	5. November

Sweaty and spent, Harry lay back on the bed. This was the way to spend a Sunday morning. He must have said it aloud. 

‘Well, on weekday mornings you're always rushing off to somewhere. Evenings too. I barely see you at all.’

Talk about timing. Harry closed his eyes and shifted uncomfortably. ‘Erm... sorry, Gin. I didn't think you minded---’

‘You didn't think? Would it kill you if you did, for once? Or at least called me. I'm fed up with having to wait for you... Harry Potter! Don't you dare to walk away when I'm talking to you!’


	6. December

Ginny started taking evening classes on Herbology. Chastised, Harry started taking her out every Friday: to theatre or cinema in Muggle London, and dinner afterwards. The sad fact was they couldn't hold a decent conversation without the children anymore. Like they had used them for interpreters and now lacked a common language.

Gradually, sex became something of a Friday routine, too. Not bad, only indifferent. Then, by some tacit mutual understanding, it petered out entirely. The dinner dates stopped as well, on the thin pretext that they kept running into Malfoy.

Harry understood why Muggle couples watched so much TV.


	7. New Year

Christmas had finally arrived, and Harry felt like whatever rough patch he and Ginny had been going through was easing up. It was Al who managed to shatter his illusions on their last evening home.

‘Dad, you know you and Mum have been all weird with each other? It's just... you wouldn't, like, get divorced and not tell us? Only, Scorpius said he found out from the Prophet when his folks did. Get divorced, I mean.’

Harry didn't know if he managed to convince either his all-too-perceptive son or himself of the fact that nothing of the sort would happen.


	8. January

The silence in the house grew into a strained, oppressive thing. In the end, something was sure to give. 

It took three nights and some Ogden's special single malt. And a lot of thinking. To his own surprise, it was Harry who brought up marriage counselling.

It was all steepled fingers and ‘Harry, how do you feel when you hear Ginny say that?’, but at the third session they made a breakthrough. Neither shouted at the other. Which is not to say they were reasonable, or didn’t say hurtful things, but it was a start. Something to go on with.


	9. February

‘Harry, do you have a minute?’ buzzed the charmed voicepipe on his desk. ‘Malfoy from Magical Accidents and Catastrophes is here. He has a case for consultation.’ Harry groaned inwardly before tapping the dented brass contraption with his wand. ‘Fine. But tell him I haven't got all day.’

The fire at the potion-manufacturer's premises had appeared accidental at first. However, Malfoy's department suspected foul play and needed confirmation from the Auror Office's crime scene investigation. Harry referred the case to Fawcett and Alleyne at the lab and hoped to have seen the last of the git. Like that would happen.


	10. March

‘It's been three weeks, Potter! Three bloody weeks! What are you people doing with my samples, sitting on them to see if they hatch? Even the Muggle C-S-I would surely have solved five cases by now!’

‘First, we had other cases in the pipeline. Like homicide. It's not like your samples would spoil. And second, CSI is a fictional show. Made up. In real life these things can take time. We'll owl you the minute we're done.’

Harry chuckled to himself when he finally got Malfoy out the door. CSI! He had to tell Ginny; she would laugh herself silly.


	11. April

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Number 11. Ron has a Malfoy issue.

‘Gah! Trust the Ferret to ruin the view – going at it like he's still seventeen.’ Startled, Harry realized he'd been staring at the couple across the lawn. ’Come on, the bloke must be half his age, if he's a day! Honestly, if we can't have a picnic at Regent's Park...’

‘That’s enough Ron. We’re switching places. This is a public park; it's not polite to stare at people snogging. Even if it's Malfoy.’ Hermione got up, brushing cherry petals off her skirt and ushered Ron to sit between Harry and Ginny. Harry felt strangely disappointed when she blocked his view.


	12. May

‘Harry, you awake?’ He gave a non-verbal grumble, already drifting off.

‘It's just... Merlin's pants, this sounds weird, but... But these days I feel like we're more like friends with benefits than a couple.’

’Me too’, Harry replied without thinking, suddenly fully awake. He heard Ginny breathe out. ‘Want me to move into the extra bedroom?’ he offered after a moment. Ginny laughed. ‘Nah. Not unless you want to share your benefits with someone else.’

Harry turned and stared at her in the dark. She was right, of course. They could both go on living in the house even if...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it.
> 
> I have an outline for a long(er/ish) slow build Draco/Harry fic that continues from where this one left off, but I'm having a serious writer's block about it atm, so maybe after the holidays.


End file.
